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Proxy Statement Summary

Here are highlights of important information you will find in this Proxy Statement. As it is only a summary, please review the complete Proxy Statement before you vote.

Our Director Nominees

You are being asked to vote on the election of the following 11 Directors. All Directors are elected annually by the affirmative vote of a majority of votes cast. For detailed information about each Director’s background, skill sets and areas of expertise, please see “Director Nominees” later in this Proxy Statement.

Review our Director nominees’ biographies, key skills and experience, committee memberships and more in our interactive Meet our Director Nominees format.

Chief Executive Officer Succession

In October 2018, we announced that the Board of Directors unanimously elected Dr. Albert Bourla, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Mr. Ian Read as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective January 1, 2019. Mr. Read was elected to the role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2019. Mr. Shantanu Narayen will continue in his role as Lead Independent Director. The Board believes this structure will help ensure continuity of strong and effective leadership.

The election of Dr. Bourla was the result of a multi-year succession planning process, led by the independent Directors. During this timeframe, the Board had the opportunity to observe and evaluate Dr. Bourla in many different settings, including as a Board member since February 2018. The Board was continually impressed with Dr. Bourla’s business performance, depth of experience, proven leadership and track record for success and, therefore, elected him to lead the company into the future as CEO.

Board Composition

Our goal is to maintain a diverse Board representing a wide range of experience and perspectives, which are important to enhancing the Board’s effectiveness in fulfilling its oversight role. Below we highlight the composition of our Director nominees.

Corporate Governance Highlights

Pfizer is committed to exercising and maintaining strong corporate governance practices. We believe that good governance promotes the long-term interests of our shareholders, strengthens Board and management accountability and improves our standing as a trusted member of the communities we serve.

Shareholder Rights and Accountability
  • Annual election of all Directors
  • Majority voting for Directors
  • Shareholder ability to call Special Meetings (10% ownership threshold)
  • Proxy access rights to holders owning at least 3% of outstanding shares for 3 years
  • Robust shareholder engagement program
Board and Committee Oversight
  • Corporate strategy
  • Risk assessment and risk management
  • Corporate political expenditures and lobbying activities
  • Cybersecurity; drug pricing, access and reimbursement; and sustainability
Independence
  • 9 of our 11 Director nominees are independent
  • Our Executive Chairman and our CEO are the only non-independent Directors
  • All key Board Committee members are independent
Lead Independent Director
  • Presides at regular executive sessions of independent Directors
  • Leads annual independent Director evaluation of CEO
  • Leads annual independent Director evaluation of Executive Chairman
Board Practices
  • Annual Board and Committee evaluations
  • Director orientation and continuing Director education on key topics and issues
  • Mandatory Retirement Policy at age 73, absent special circumstances
  • Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Members of the Board of Directors
Pay for Performance
  • Executive compensation program strongly links pay and performance
  • Compensation Committee reviews the goal-setting processes to ensure targets are rigorous, yet attainable, thereby incentivizing performance
  • Significant percentage of total target compensation is “at-risk” through short- and long-term incentive awards
  • Compensation Committee structures our compensation program to align targets and goals with our overall business strategy and objectives
Robust Stock Ownership Requirements
  • Executive Chairman, CEO, Named Executive Officers (NEOs) and Directors are subject to robust Pfizer common stock ownership requirements:
    • Executive Chairman/CEO: 6x base salary
    • Other NEOs: 4x base salary
    • Non-employee Directors: 5x annual cash retainer
Our Corporate Governance and Executive Compensation practices are informed by our long-standing, comprehensive shareholder engagement program. In 2018, we engaged with more than 30 investors representing over 30% of our shares outstanding. The Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee participated in these discussions when requested.

2018 Shareholder Outreach

We believe that a robust shareholder outreach program is an essential component of maintaining our strong corporate governance practices. In our discussions with investors, we seek their input on a variety of corporate governance topics and other issues that may impact our business or reputation. We strive for a collaborative approach with investors to solicit and understand a variety of perspectives. During 2018, we solicited feedback from investors representing approximately 50% of our outstanding shares and engaged with more than 30 global institutional investors representing over 30% of our outstanding shares. Such engagement included the participation of the Chair of our Corporate Governance Committee when requested. Overall, investors’ sentiment was positive with respect to our Board of Directors, our corporate governance practices, including the frequency of our shareholder outreach, and our executive compensation program. Shareholder feedback was summarized and shared with the Board of Directors.

Areas of particular focus during our engagements with investors included CEO succession planning, Board composition, with a focus on the recruitment process for new Director candidates, drug pricing, product safety, human capital management and the company’s sustainability priorities.

For more information about our 2018 shareholder engagement program and the actions we took in response to shareholder feedback, see “Governance — Board Information — Corporate Governance Committee Report” and “Governance — Shareholder Outreach” later in this Proxy Statement.

Executive Compensation Highlights

Pfizer’s pay-for-performance compensation philosophy is set by the Compensation Committee of the Board. Our goal is to align each executive’s compensation with Pfizer’s short-term and long-term performance and provide the compensation and incentives needed to attract, motivate and retain key executives crucial to Pfizer’s long-term success.

To achieve these objectives:

  • We position total direct compensation and each compensation element at approximately the median of our Pharmaceutical Peer and General Industry Comparator companies.
  • We align annual short-term incentive awards with annual operating, financial and strategic objectives.
  • We align long-term incentive awards with the interests of our shareholders by delivering value based on operating results and absolute and relative shareholder return, encouraging stock ownership and promoting retention of key talent.
  • We ensure that a significant portion of the total compensation opportunity for our executives is “at-risk” through both our short- and long-term incentive awards, the payout of which is directly related to the achievement of pre-established performance metrics directly tied to our business goals and strategies and, for long-term incentive awards, Pfizer’s total shareholder return (TSR).

2018 KEY ELEMENTS OF EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Direct compensation for our executives in 2018 consisted of the following key elements:

ElementType/DescriptionObjective
Salary (Cash) The fixed amount of compensation for performing day-to-day responsibilities is set based on market data, job scope and responsibilities, and experience Provides competitive level of fixed compensation that helps to attract and retain high-performing executive talent
Annual Short-
Term Incentive/
Global
Performance
Plan (GPP)

(Cash)
Our annual incentive plan pool is funded based on performance against Pfizer's short-term financial goals (revenue, adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) and cash flow from operations). Individual awards are based on business/operating unit and individual performance measured over the performance year

Provides incentives for achieving short-term results that create sustained future growth
Annual Long-Term
Incentive
Compensation

(100% Performance-
Based Equity)
  • 5-Year Total Shareholder Return Units (TSRUs)
  • 7-Year Total Shareholder Return Units (TSRUs)
  • Performance Share Awards (PSAs)
TSRUs provide direct alignment with shareholders as awards are tied to absolute total shareholder return over a five- or seven-year period

PSAs align executive compensation to operational goals through performance against a combination of operating income* over three one-year periods and TSR relative to the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG Index) over a three-year performance period
* Operating income, as the PSA performance measure, is based on Pfizer’s Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Income (as calculated using the “Reconciliation of GAAP Reported to Non-GAAP Adjusted Information — Certain Line Items” table in our 2018 Financial Report), adjusted to reflect budgeted foreign exchange rates for the year and further refined to exclude other unbudgeted or non-recurring items. Effective in 2019, the Operating Income performance measure will be replaced with an Adjusted Net Income performance measure for PSAs granted after 2017. For additional information, see the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section later in this Proxy Statement.

Element: Salary (Cash)

Type/Description:
The fixed amount of compensation for performing day-to-day responsibilities is set based on market data, job scope and responsibilities, and experience.

Objective:
Provides competitive level of fixed compensation that helps to attract and retain high-performing executive talent
Element: Annual Short-Term Incentive/Global Performance Plan (GPP) (Cash)

Type/Description:
Our annual incentive plan pool is funded based on performance against Pfizer's short-term financial goals (revenue, adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) and cash flow from operations). Individual awards are based on business/operating unit and individual performance measured over the performance year



Objective:
Provides incentives for achieving short-term results that create sustained future growth
Element: Annual Long-Term Incentive Compensation (100% Performance-Based Equity)

Type/Description:
  • 5-Year Total Shareholder Return Units (TSRUs)
  • 7-Year Total Shareholder Return Units (TSRUs)
  • Performance Share Awards (PSAs)


Objective:
TSRUs provide direct alignment with shareholders as awards are tied to absolute total shareholder return over a five- or seven-year period

PSAs align executive compensation to operational goals through performance against a combination of operating income* over three one-year periods and TSR relative to the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG Index) over a three-year performance period

* Operating income, as the PSA performance measure, is based on Pfizer’s Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Income (as calculated using the “Reconciliation of GAAP Reported to Non-GAAP Adjusted Information — Certain Line Items” table in our 2018 Financial Report), adjusted to reflect budgeted foreign exchange rates for the year and further refined to exclude other unbudgeted or non-recurring items. Effective in 2019, the Operating Income performance measure will be replaced with an Adjusted Net Income performance measure for PSAs granted after 2017. For additional information, see the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section later in this Proxy Statement.

2018 NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICER (NEO) PAY MIX

The illustration below uses year-end salary and target annual short-term and long-term incentive awards for the NEOs to show the percentage each pay element comprises of our NEOs’ target direct compensation for 2018.

 

KEY PLANNING CYCLE

The below graphic illustrates key elements of the annual compensation planning cycle*:

APPROVE
REVIEW
ENGAGE
JANUARY–MARCH
  • Complete Executive Leadership Team (ELT) year-end performance assessments for prior year
  • Review and approve prior year's incentive plan performance results and funding level
  • Review and approve annual ELT compensation (salary, bonus and long-term incentive awards)
  • Conduct annual risk assessment on our global compensation programs and policies
  • Review and approve proxy materials
  • Review ELT goals for current performance period
  • Approve various incentive plan metrics and targets for current performance period
APRIL–JUNE
  • Consider shareholder feedback from outreach discussions and the results of the say-on-pay vote
  • Review year-to-date performance relating to the annual incentive plan and the performance share plan
  • Conduct an annual proxy analysis of NEO pay of comparator companies
  • Review proxy advisory firms’ analyses of current proxy statement
 
 
 
JULY–SEPTEMBER
  • Review year-to-date performance relating to the annual incentive plan and the performance share plan
  • Conduct CEO mid-year performance assessment
  • Review and approve composition of the Pharmaceutical Peer and General Industry Comparator groups
OCTOBER–DECEMBER
  • Commence ELT year-end performance assessments
  • Conduct annual executive stock ownership review
  • Review year-to-date performance relating to the annual incentive plan and performance share plan
  • Review potential NEOs for the upcoming proxy statement
  • Engage in shareholder outreach discussions
  • Review and approve Committee Charter
JULY–SEPTEMBER
  • Review year-to-date performance relating to the annual incentive plan and the performance share plan
  • Conduct CEO mid-year performance assessment
  • Review and approve composition of the Pharmaceutical Peer and General Industry Comparator groups
* Includes actions with respect to our Executive Chairman, as applicable.

 

Our Compensation Practices

Pfizer continues to implement and maintain leading practices in its compensation program, including these practices:

WHAT WE DO
CheckmarkRisk Mitigation
CheckmarkCompensation Recovery (“Clawback”)
CheckmarkStock Ownership Requirements
CheckmarkMinimum Stock Vesting Required
CheckmarkRobust Investor Outreach
CheckmarkIndependent Compensation Consultation
WHAT WE DO NOT DO
XHedging or Pledging
XEmployment Agreements
XChange in Control Agreements
XRepricing
X“Gross-ups” for Excise Taxes or Perquisites

For additional information about Pfizer, please view our 2018 Financial Report (see “Appendix A”) and our 2018 Annual Review at www.pfizer.com/annual. Please note that neither our 2018 Financial Report, nor our 2018 Annual Review is a part of our proxy solicitation materials.

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